ST. MARY PARISH, LA. 

Obituary for: HELM, JOHN JOSEPH 

Submitted by: Louis Lavedan. 

Source: Franklin Banner-Tribune, Morgan City Daily Review; St. Mary Parish, La. 

Published 14 May 2012

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HELM, JOHN JOSEPH 

John Joseph Helm, 87, passed away Monday, May 7, 2012, at the Louisiana War 
Veterans Home in Jackson following a lengthy illness.

A native of St. Augustine, Fla., he enlisted in the Navy at the age of 17, and 
served with the Marines as a corpsman on Tulagi and Guadalcanal.

Following his return, he was invited to take part in a shrimping expedition 
along the Gulf Coast. It was during a stop-over in Louisiana that he spied a 
pretty girl standing next to a juke box at the old Hub Club, and he never 
looked back. The next 28 years were spent in Morgan City, where he worked in 
the oil and gas industry.

His work later took him to Aberdeen, Scotland, where he resided, and traveled 
extensively throughout Europe for the next 10 years. With retirement on the 
horizon, he decided it was time to return to Louisiana, and settled in Zachary 
to be near his grandchildren.

John was a man’s man, and his bliss was hunting and fishing in the Louisiana 
swamps and bayous. In his later years, he took pleasure in the small things, 
but time never diminished his love for adventure.

He is survived by three daughters, Karen Gordon and her husband Jeff of St. 
Augustine, Fla., Johnnie Babin and her husband Cliff of Zachary, and Kim Thomas 
and her husband Dave of Gonzales; a sister, Minerva Battell and her husband Ray 
of St. Augustine, Fla.; the mother of his children, Harriet Ghirardi Helm of 
New Orleans; seven grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents, one sister, one brother and a 
grandson.

Graveside services with military honors will take place at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, 
May 17, 2012, at Port Hudson National Cemetery in Zachary.

His legacy will live on in the generations yet to come.

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